Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Power to Dazzle

I saw a dance once that changed my perspective.

Old perspective: I used to think that some people could be successful and some people could not. Perhaps, even, some people were simply more important than others. Who knew why? I mean, maybe it was a matter of luck. Maybe there were golden balls thrown into God’s bingo roller. Maybe some were just “special”—chosen ones, so to speak. As for everyone else, if you don’t have the “chosen” gene—sorry, you’re out of luck.

It’s true—it was a dance that showed me these thoughts were wrong.

There was nothing special about the televised dance, other than the fact I was struck with the impression that everyone seemed to be completely in their element. It was as if no one was pretending. No one was trying to be someone else; and even better, no one was feeling self-conscious. Everyone's inner light shone through without restraint. I was mesmerized. And the thought struck me: Are we, as a human race, magnetically drawn to those who are, perhaps, closest to self-actualization?

I realized we all have an inner light. We don’t have to force it into existence—if anything, the opposite is true. We should relax and stop blocking it. So what I realized was this: the power we all have to be special, chosen, successful,lucky, etc. is in our ability to learn how to unblock ourselves. We all have the potential to spell-bind another. It’s in there; you find it through a process of hard work and discovery. Like you find a buried treasure. We go through a process of searching, giving, sometimes being rejected, and trying again. The latter requires believing in ourselves to no small degree—which can be hard in the face of rejection.

I always loved the children’s story You Are Special, the one with the stars and dots. I believe we are all God’s children. He’s the one who can let us know who we are. Since He created us, we are all sublime. He is filled with all power and all things right, all things with force. I get excited when I think about the power we can tap into.

It’s not a race, I realized after watching that dance. It’s not even a contest. If we could all simply be our true selves, it would take competition out of the equation—because we all have the power to dazzle.